US shuts down project probing Russia's alleged ‘kidnapping' of Ukrainian children
The US government has terminated funding for a Yale University project investigating alleged Russian abductions of Ukrainian children, several media outlets reported this week, citing sources.
Ukrainian and Western officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of 'kidnapping' Ukrainian minors. International Criminal Court arrest warrants are issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova over alleged 'unlawful deportations.' Russia, however, has dismissed the claims as politically motivated, explaining that it evacuates children from the conflict zone to protect them.
According to iPaper and The New Republic, the now terminated contract funded the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which was tasked with identifying and tracking Ukrainian minors allegedly taken to Russia. The project reportedly shared its findings with the Ukrainian authorities and Europol in an effort to repatriate the children.
However, funding for the project was reportedly cut on orders from the newly established US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE has been helping implement President Donald Trump's initiative to curb wasteful government spending, bureaucracy, and corruption.
A Yale spokesperson confirmed the funding cut, telling the media that HRL researchers were 'notified recently that government funding for their work on the war in Ukraine has been discontinued.' He added that Yale was 'not in a position' to comment on the development. The White House, State Department, and DOGE all did not respond to media requests for comment.
The reports came amid renewed accusations from Kiev, made by Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, Yury Vitrenko, at an OSCE meeting on Thursday that Russia has 'illegally placed' over 19,000 Ukrainian children in its territory and was 'forcibly' Russifying them. Vitrenko said that 1,227 displaced children had been returned to Ukraine but blamed Moscow for allegedly obstructing the process.
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have regularly reported on the efforts undertaken to reunite displaced Ukrainian children with their families. Last month, Lvova-Belova announced that 17 children from 11 families had recently been reunited with relatives in Russia, while 95 more – with relatives in Ukraine and other countries under a Qatar-mediated agreement with Kiev reached last year. She has repeatedly called Kiev's claims of abductions a 'systemic myth' and pledged to continue facilitating family reunifications. Russian officials have also stressed that displaced children are not adopted in Russia but placed under temporary guardianship or foster care until they can be returned to their families.
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